TN: 2007 St. Innocent Momtazi Vineyard

WINE TALK
41

Thanks.
I am not much good at searching chat rooms, but that is not for lack of interest. I just have a lot of things to juggle. I will extend an open invitation to anyone to have me look at a thread by contacting me as below:

Call or text my cell 503-932-2129
Email me at markv@stinnocentwine.com

Thanks, and check out the '08 Momtazi, it has the fruit and wildness.
Mark

Mark Vlossak

42

Concerns with a 2007 OPN? [snort.gif]

This is interesting to me because I have always thought Mark’s wines had more of a mineral characteristic than a dirt one. And not generally fruit forward. (Though obviously he produces a range of PN.) I always expect someone to say the St. Innocent wines taste different - though not in a bad way.

It seems to me that in recent years that mineral quality has taken a lesser role in the wines, with fruits coming a little more to the front. But I would still be a bit more concerned about the winemaking style in this kind of vintage than I would be in a more fruit forward one.

What I would be more curious about (should Mark return) is any difficulties or challenges in the winemaking process due to producing in the new facility. 2007 was the first vintage there, no?

43

You probably ought to read the whole thread. This appears to be a provenance issue with a distributor.

44

C.

Re: [snort.gif] You and I have already dealt with this. But, maybe Mark will tell you what you want to hear about 2007, but I doubt it.

As for winemaking at St. I’s new facility in 2007: yes, it was the first vintage, and we were moving barrels in from the previous location just about to the point when the fire marshal approved the building, the county planner signed off on the building permit requirements, and the fruit began rolling in for what I recall to be a complete most of crush in the span of 24-36 hours. We really didn’t have any problems other than those that any winery would have with a normal-to-higher crop level, all arriving in such a short period. The new winery had much more space, the layout didn’t require all the reconfiguration adjustments previously required for the various processing operations, and we had enough help to get the job done up to Mark’s high standards.

Tom

45

I did - I didn’t sense anything resembling a consensus in the comments. But we are all entitled to our opinions.

FWIW, while I haven’t had this, I did have Kelley’s and as much as I wanted to love it, I found it extremely difficult to drink (though noted to myself that I would want to try the 2008.) Who knows?

Tom, you ol’ plonkmeister, there is no ‘answer that I want to hear’ relating to anything on this thread. And if I wanted your opinion I’d have asked for it - just curious as to Mark’s opinion (which is why I said “should Mark return”) as to the impact of the new facility. (Though must every criticism of a 2007 wine turn into a rally of the hordes who must defend them all?)

(Of course, if he is feeling verbose I would be curious as to a broad perception I have that his wines have gotten a little more fruit forward over the (last ten or so) years - not quite so minerally (which isn’t a criticism in a balanced wine, but a description). But that is off the topic of the thread.)

46

Chris, I think you should consult a Time magazine from 1932 for your answers. [rofl.gif]

47

Mods- maybe one of you could reach out to Mark to be a future special guest as that might be a more measurable predictor of his time. I suggest this because we always seem to end up with more questions than answers in these Pinot threads, especially ones relating to Oregon 2007.

48

I also had this last night from teh same bottle as Cris, Jason, the Cabot’s, etc. I gotta disagree with Steve, this was a nice bottle and when I found out the price later, I thought it a very good QPR worth buying.

I experienced none of the issues Steve did.

49

Freakin’ Cabots are everywhere. You can’t get rid of 'em. [stirthepothal.gif]

50

C.

I’ll leave your “ol’ plonkmeister” comment for others to judge. Suffice it to say, while I vigorously disagree with you on this and other comments you have shot from the tips of your fingers, I think it’s safe to say I haven’t (yet) stooped to name-calling.

As for my opinion, I gave it, because I believe Mark has no interest in discussing your post - but, you may get lucky. As someone who was involved with getting the winery ready for the 2007 harvest, and making wine with Mark as I have since 2005, I answered your question.

To the extent that you are truly interested in Mark’s comments about 2007, you and anyone else who is interested can find them here, where they always are: http://www.stinnocentwine.com/NewFiles/vintage07.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

Tom

51

Sounds like Steve’s “dirt” issues might be Brett. Maybe certain distributors had some storage issues and had a bloom.
Just last night I opened an Italian wine that I had had about a year before. The previous bottle was fine. The one last night was overwhelmingly Bretty and spritzy. [barf.gif] You never know what is going to happen given some time, and maybe less than optimal storage conditions.

52

is the spritzy characteristic part of storage? did not know that if so!

53

First off I’d like to thank Mark for taking the time to chime in and give us a profile of the wine, I found it most interesting. Next, I’d like to point out that I’ve had enough Beaucastel in my life to know what barnyard is and what I was tasting was not that. I doubt shipping had anything to do with the wines performance and it wasn’t brett or barnyard, IMO it’s more the vineyard and the style that Mark was trying for. I like a more elegant, more floral style of Pinot and I don’t think from reading his post that Mark was striving for that…I didn’t get any fruit on the nose or palate and like I said, all that was left was dirt (or earth) which is not what I’m looking for in a Pinot.

Thanks for all the comments, I found them very interesting.

Steve

Oh, I do have a Kelly Fox Momtazi that I’ll open soon and see if it’s along the same lines as the SI.

54

I think it would be indicative of some fermentation in bottle–trapped CO2 spritzes out. So probably more likely at higher temps where yeast or bacteria could be active.

55

I think Todd Hamina made a Momtazi in '07. Doubt he has any left except for his own library (if he even has that) but maybe he’ll open one of his if he has them. Write to him.

56

Yeah for the record my bottle came from the same place Steve’s did. Not to say that Envoyer didn’t source from different distributors. But the only probable difference would be that Steve’s was shipped from Envoyer. Mine was not.

J

57

[smileyvault-ban.gif]

It seems to me that in recent years that mineral quality has taken a lesser role in the wines, with fruits coming a little more to the front. But I would still be a bit more concerned about the winemaking style in this kind of vintage than I would be in a more fruit forward one.

Hopefully Mark can comment on this one. In my conversations, I don’t think he would say that is the case or at least not a goal he set out. But like all wine-makers, he is learning and changing. I personally think a part of this is the vineyards. With adding Justice, to me more fruit forward (I think 777) and losing 7 Springs/Anden, the SI portfolio is changed. Also, many of the last years of 7 Springs/Anden were the super ripe.

I do think the wines from recent years are a bit more approachable.

(Though must every criticism of a 2007 wine turn into a rally of the hordes who must defend them all?)

[basic-smile.gif]

To be clear, I, and by association, the folks on my street last night just happened to be opening this bottle. Good chance to get a cross section of people. So we razzed Steve a little bit because our experience was different. Didn’t really mean to defend 2007. Just commenting on our particular bottle. That said, this bottle was indicative of why many will not like 07, especially when there are 06s and 08s out there. Our group of wine geeks and non wine geeks liked this wine.

58

I thought my ears were burning last night…anytime Kim Cabot is around there’s bound to be razzing. [cheers.gif]

59

Exactly.

60

I think we need a stickied thread dedicated only to WV wines… I [snort.gif]